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Zaya
New Member
3 Posts |
 Posted - 05/14/2005 : 09:25:09
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By wishing someone a good morning, good day good, night etc., aren't we being superstituous? We assume we can influence reality by wishing. Or maybe we (unconsciously) rely on the power of suggestion. Otherwise, everybody would understand it's a foolish thing to wish someone a goodmorning and nobody would say it.
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Ricky
SFN Die Hard
USA
4907 Posts |
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Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist
USA
4955 Posts |
Posted - 05/14/2005 : 10:18:57 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Zaya
By wishing someone a good morning, good day good, night etc., aren't we being superstituous? We assume we can influence reality by wishing. Or maybe we (unconsciously) rely on the power of suggestion. Otherwise, everybody would understand it's a foolish thing to wish someone a goodmorning and nobody would say it.
Hi Zaya, and welcome to SFN. I have always wondered the whole "good morning" thing. I personally never say it and get very annoyed when I hear it-- it's too happy and cheerful.
That said, I don't get annoyed at "good luck" and I use that frequently. But when I say it, all I am really doing is expressing a semtiment of affection. Similarly, when I say "be careful" I don't honestly think that my imparative has actually inspired a person to actually be careful ("Oh, Cune asked me to be careful so I guess I won't throw this helmet off and go careening down the mountainside on my bike..."). Instead, it likewise just expresses positive feeling towards that person. |
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Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist
USA
4955 Posts |
Posted - 05/14/2005 : 10:22:18 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Ricky
By someone saying "Good morning," are they not stating that it is in fact, a good morning? That is how I always interpreted the phrase.
I know-- I always want to say "how do you know it's a good morning?"
quote:
But in general, people put too much meaning into common phrases. When I sneeze and someone says, "God bless you." even though I am an athiest, I don't get offened. It is just a common thing to say when someone sneezes. I even catch myself saying it sometimes.
That's why I say gesundheit. But even then, only to people I actually know. And when people say "God bless you" I always ham up my reply by saying "thank you for your blessing" while bowing slightly. I sometimes even add "my child." |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13477 Posts |
Posted - 05/14/2005 : 10:29:53 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Zaya
By wishing someone a good morning, good day good, night etc., aren't we being superstituous? We assume we can influence reality by wishing. Or maybe we (unconsciously) rely on the power of suggestion. Otherwise, everybody would understand it's a foolish thing to wish someone a goodmorning and nobody would say it.
It looks like a superstition, and perhaps at one time it was. But culturally speaking it really has no magical connotation anymore (if it ever did.) It's merely a traditional greeting and letting the person know that you hope all goes well for the person being greeted. It sets up a pleasant tone in an interpersonal encounter. It has become a common courtesy upon greeting or leaving and nothing more.
Welcome to SFN Zaya.
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Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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Zaya
New Member
3 Posts |
Posted - 05/14/2005 : 10:37:12 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Ricky
By someone saying "Good morning," are they not stating that it is in fact, a good morning? That is how I always interpreted the phrase.
You may be right. But here (in Holland), everyone is always wishing each other a good evening when it's still afternoon (cashiers in supermarkets are obliged to say it to every customer), or a good weekend when it's still friday. To me the habit is just as stupid as knocking on wood. |
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Zaya
New Member
3 Posts |
Posted - 05/14/2005 : 10:40:43 [Permalink]
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BTW thanks for the welcome.
I've recently become interested in skepticism due to Penn&Teller's Bullshit show. |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13477 Posts |
Posted - 05/14/2005 : 11:07:01 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Zaya
BTW thanks for the welcome.
I've recently become interested in skepticism due to Penn&Teller's Bullshit show.
I'm a fan of P&T's Bullshit too... |
Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 05/14/2005 : 14:54:14 [Permalink]
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| "Good morning" is simply shorthand for "I hope you have had, and/or are having, and/or will have, a good morning." People wish others a "good evening" when it's only afternoon (or a "good weekend" when it's only Friday) when they don't expect to see the person again within the timeframe in question. It's nothing more than politeness. I don't know of anyone who actually thinks saying "good morning" will change reality, so I don't see anything superstitious about it. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9688 Posts |
Posted - 05/14/2005 : 15:24:41 [Permalink]
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Welcome Zaya, to Skeptic Friends Network.
I hope your stay here will be long. |
Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 05/14/2005 : 16:50:27 [Permalink]
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"good morning" is just a greeting. I use it when I can't recall a person's name. Typically I greet people with something like, "Hey Dave, how's it going?".
I have never considered either to carry any type of superstitions connotation.
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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Dik-Dik Van Dik
Skeptic Friend
United Kingdom
76 Posts |
Posted - 05/15/2005 : 08:55:19 [Permalink]
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Goodbye evolved from the saying God be with you
quote:
Word History: No doubt more than one reader has wondered exactly how goodbye is derived from the phrase “God be with you.” To understand this, it is helpful to see earlier forms of the expression, such as God be wy you, god b'w'y, godbwye, god buy' ye, and good-b'wy. The first word of the expression is now good and not God, for good replaced God by analogy with such expressions as good day, perhaps after people no longer had a clear idea of the original sense of the expression. A letter of 1573 written by Gabriel Harvey contains the first recorded use of goodbye: “To requite your gallonde [gallon] of godbwyes, I regive you a pottle of howdyes,” recalling another contraction that is still used.
That seems more superstitious than anything |
DARWIN 3:16
"The simple believeth every word." - Proverbs 14:15
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Plyss
Skeptic Friend
Netherlands
231 Posts |
Posted - 05/15/2005 : 12:54:22 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Zaya
quote:
Originally posted by Ricky
By someone saying "Good morning," are they not stating that it is in fact, a good morning? That is how I always interpreted the phrase.
You may be right. But here (in Holland), everyone is always wishing each other a good evening when it's still afternoon (cashiers in supermarkets are obliged to say it to every customer), or a good weekend when it's still friday. To me the habit is just as stupid as knocking on wood.
Hey, another local boy. A few more dutch guys and we'll take over!
I never quite considered the phrase "good morning" to be anything other than a standard greeting. It's really just something you say to indicate goodwill or to express your hope that someone does indeed have a good morning.
I do love P&T's show. Pity it doesn't get aired here, there's a lot of people who need it  |
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Ricky
SFN Die Hard
USA
4907 Posts |
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Plyss
Skeptic Friend
Netherlands
231 Posts |
Posted - 05/15/2005 : 13:50:29 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Ricky
quote:
Hey, another local boy. A few more dutch guys and we'll take over!
By my count, there are 510 memebers from the USA here. You still got a long ways to go.
Now bow down before we invade you.
Hah, we're with 3 sofar. That's a mere 16900% increase. I expect to reach this number by the end of next month. There's no law against optimism. I checked  |
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Dik-Dik Van Dik
Skeptic Friend
United Kingdom
76 Posts |
Posted - 05/17/2005 : 06:04:41 [Permalink]
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| can you be a skeptic and an optimist? I thought we were meant to be realists |
DARWIN 3:16
"The simple believeth every word." - Proverbs 14:15
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